New Shepard Photos Released: Blue Origin All Set for First Crewed Mission on the Reusable Rocket Built for Space Tourism

Images of Blue Origin's New Shepard have recently come out in space news reports as the company gets ready for its mission to space.

A Live Science report said Jeff Bezos, former Amazon CEO, is scheduled for takeoff toward space on July 20 at 9 am.

Bezos and three other members of the crew are slated for a ride aboard the reusable suborbital rocket of Blue Origin.

This, according to the said report, is the 16th takeoff of New Shepard, built to accommodate six astronauts and is developed to bring its crew to over 62 miles or 100 kilometers high, touching the edge of space.

ALSO READ: Blue Origin: Jeff Bezos to Auction off First Space Tourism Flight Aboard New Shepard for July

Some Impressive Features of New Shepard

The seats in this crew capsule of Blue Origin, which sits on top of the suborbital rocket, are designed to blend or stretch and absorb g-forces in the occurrence of an off-nominal, or emergency, or unexpected landing.

New Shepard has a remote lift-off. This suborbital rocket took off in its 15th launch called "Mission NS-15." Specifically, it lifted off in the middle of April this year from Launch Site One in West Texas.

The booster of New Shepard is shown in one of the images as it landed after the successful mission to space of this suborbital rocket, as mentioned, the 15th launch of the vehicle that Occurred in mid-April.

The said booster on the landing pad of New Shepard after the success of NS-15 earlier was also shown in one of the images released by space news reports. Essentially, a rocket booster works in coordination with the main engines to escape the pull of gravity of Earth.

A Rocket Built for Tourism in Space

According to a Lower RGV News report, New Shepard is a rocket Blue Origin manufactured for space tourism. It is designed to take passengers into suborbital space aboard a crew capsule that features six huge observation windows, one for each seat.

New Shepard is completely reusable, and as of last month, it has performed 15 uncrewed test launches. In late 2015, this rocket was the first reusable of its kind to successfully make a soft landing on the ground, beating out by several weeks, the more popular SpaceX Falcon booster.

Blue Origin was founded by Bezos, also known for the fortune he made with Amazon. In 2013, he also acquired the Washington Post.

Then, the distinguished Forbes magazine has ranked Bezos as the world's richest person for many years running. As of this month, the publication approximates his net worth as a little over $200 billion.

Marking the 52nd Anniversary of Humans Landing on Moon

As mentioned, the spacecraft manufacturing firm is targeting its first crewed mission to space on July 20 to mark the 52nd anniversary of humans landing on the moon. Bezos is joining the flight along with the three other passengers.

For a typical flight, New Shepard takes off vertically and ascends for roughly two and a half minutes before the main engine cuts off, and the capsule detaches from the rocket.

Here, passengers are weightless for around four minutes during an 11-minute flight and are high enough at over 300,000-altitude to see the Earth's curvature.

The reusable suborbital rocket coasts for a few minutes in space before it reenters the atmosphere and uses an autonomous, rocket-powered vertical landing system to touch down.

Related information about New Shepard is shown on VideoFromSpace's YouTube video below: